Former Prime Minister of India - Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee

PRIME MINISTER SHRI ATAL BIHARI VAJPAYEE'S OPENING REMARKS AT THE JOINT PRESS APPEARANCE WITH PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH IN WHITE HOUSE

~Thank you, Mr. President, for your kind words. It is a pleasure to be here to continue the practice of a regular dialogue which India and USA have established in recent years. I was happy to be able to personally reiterate our sympathy, solidarity and support for the American people in the aftermath of the terrible events of September 11.

We admire the decisive leadership of President Bush in the international coalition against terrorism. We also applaud the resilience and resolve of the American people in this hour of trial.

This terrible tragedy has created the opportunity to fashion a determined global response to terrorism in all its forms and manifestations wherever it exists and under whatever name. I assured President Bush of India’s complete support in this.

At the same time, as multi-religious pluralist democracies, we should clearly spread the message that the war against terrorism is not against any religion but against terrorists whose propaganda misuses religion.

President Bush and I had a very good conversation which we will continue over lunch. In the last few months there has been an intensive interaction between our two countries on a wide range of bilateral issues. We have moved forward on the dialogue, architecture and on defence cooperation. The resumption of the bilateral defence policy group should promote technical

cooperation in defence and security. The joint working group on counter terrorism has made good progress and we have agreed to launch a joint cyber terrorism initiatives. The economic and commercial relations are expanding. We have agreed to broaden the Bilateral Economic Dialogue to include new areas of cooperation. Both of us agree that the synergies and complimentarities between our two countries should be more fully exploited. We discussed the urgent need for a political order in Afghanistan which would be broad based representatives and friendly with all countries in its neighbourhood. It is equally important to sustain international assistance for rehabilitation and reconstruction work in that country. We agreed that India and USA in partnership with other countries would work towards these goals.

Today, the President and I continued face to face the dialogue which we have been conducting over the last ten months on the phone and through letters. It has been an extremely rewarding experience. To sustain the momentum of the dialogue I have reiterated to President Bush my invitation to visit India. I look forward to receive him in New Delhi.

Thank you~.